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June 06, 2007

The crime not committed

When he sentenced Scooter Libby to 2 1/2 years in prison, Judge Reggie B. Walton took into account a crime for which no evidence was entered, and for which no one was charged .

"But there is obviously the other side," he continued. "The evidence in this case overwhelmingly indicated Mr. Libby's culpability." Libby "did not take any effort to find out" about Plame's covert status at the CIA before outing her, the judge said, and his claims of memory lapses to explain his false grand jury testimony are "just not born out by the evidence."

Richard Armitage outed Valerie Plame, a fact known to Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald almost from the outset of his investigation. But that was OK. No crime.